# Skills

> Teach AI coding assistants how to use the Done Bear CLI with installable agent skills.

Done Bear skills are instruction bundles that teach AI coding assistants how to operate the Done Bear CLI. Install a skill and your agent gains command discovery, auth handling, task workflows, and safety-aware execution. No custom prompts needed.

Skills work with Claude Code, OpenCode, Codex, and Cursor.

## Before you begin

- Install Node.js 18 or newer.
- Install the Done Bear CLI globally: `npm install -g donebear`.
- Sign in with `donebear auth login`, or create an account with `donebear auth signup --email <human-email>` (do not invent the address).

## Install

```bash
npx skills add donebear/skills -g --all -y
```

To verify, open your AI coding assistant and ask it to run a Done Bear command:

```
List my open tasks in Done Bear
```

The assistant should run `donebear task list --json` and return your tasks. If the CLI isn't authenticated, the skill guides the assistant through `donebear auth login` automatically.

## What a skill does

A skill gives your AI assistant:

- **Command knowledge**: common commands and flags without running `donebear spec` first.
- **Safety tiers**: read-only commands run freely, destructive commands require confirmation.
- **Error recovery**: auth failures, missing workspaces, and unknown flags are handled automatically.
- **JSON-first output**: agents parse `--json` output instead of scraping text.

## How skills differ from MCP

The [MCP server](/mcp) gives agents structured remote tool calls. Skills give agents CLI fluency. They run `donebear` commands directly in the terminal.

Use MCP when your client supports it and you want the cleanest integration. First-party Cursor, Claude, Grok Bot, and ChatGPT plugins in `apps/plugins` install that hosted MCP and do not require the CLI. Use the CLI skill when you want agents to run `donebear` directly, chain shell commands, or work in environments where MCP isn't available.

## How skills differ from the CLI

You still need the [Done Bear CLI](/cli) installed globally (`npm install -g donebear`). The skill teaches your agent how to use it, so you don't need to learn the commands yourself.

## Next steps

- Read [MCP overview](/mcp) if your client supports the Model Context Protocol.
- Read [CLI overview](/cli) for the full command surface.

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Every Done Bear page is listed at https://donebear.com/llms.txt. Any page has a markdown copy at its URL plus `.md`. Start from the map rather than guessing a path.